You are here

Real Life Stories

The library is free. I learned that early on when Mother explained that “public” meant “free,” so we could afford it. The library that liberated me as a child makes me free to sculpt my world today.READ MORE

To open a book is to open your heart and mind. That’s what I found most intriguing about the libraries in my life. As a middle child of a family trapped in the cultural/language barrier world, I learned that books offered an escape and a fantasy sort of opportunity.READ MORE

I am a single mother of three children, college graduate and (again) student, preparing for law school this August. How I "arrived" here is due in large part to early education and training at public libraries. If it weren't for some very special, dedicated and patient librarians, my mother, father and grandmother, the opening of the "world" inside library walls would not have occurred. READ MORE

Libraries have been my wealth. My daddy was a South Georgia Methodist minister at a time when preachers made enough money to feed their families, but not much more. We kids got new toys only for Christmas and birthdays, but when Mama took us all to the library on Saturdays, we could pick out as many books as library rules allowed. Our town library served as the great economic equalizer: the richest kids in our school could not take home any more books than we could. READ MORE

Has the Library made a significant difference in my life?
The library HAS BEEN my life!
During elementary school days, my parents worked long
hours at difficult, low paying jobs, leaving me--an only child--on my own. My time was spent at the library, reading all the books on the shelves. I can still recall sitting on that wood floor, curled up in a corner, reading. Grace Livingston Hill books were my favorite. The author's heroine became my role model, and her values, my values. So my character was partially molded by book people.READ MORE

Whether closed by a potent wind or an angry impulse, a slamming door shouts "Closed!" with a jarring finality. If you want to hear the sound of an opening door, go to the library. As a child, I escaped my home of slamming doors and fled to the library. When life got testy, the library offered solace. Once there, it took all my weight to push open the heavy glass door and as it swung open it sighed contentedly, as did I.READ MORE

The library has had a profound effect on my life. The year was 1983 and my husband and I had experienced the tragedy of losing two baby boys, who were born one year apart, due to extreme prematurely. We were devastated with our losses and a third pregnancy was no longer an option for me, due to serious medical complications. The social worker assigned to us, during our second baby’s stay in NICU for 69 days, was very pessimistic about adoption. There were fewer babies available for adoption because of abortion and many teenage unwed mothers were keeping their bREAD MORE

, thinking of the libraries visited in my life. Although I learned in each of them, the buildings and bookmobiles also intrigued me. Books that I checked out took me around the world and into many different cultures. Libraries changed my life. They provided the pleasure of reading, a lifelong hobby, while I learned about the wider world. Reading storybooks as a child, reference books as a youth, and medical journals as an adult, all supplied impressions and facts adding to my store of knowledge. READ MORE

Our town library is not just a place to get books (though I am decidedly grateful for those!); it is a veritable hub of social connection and community activity. Prosser library was in essence the first stepping stone to my evolving into an active community member in my town.READ MORE

Three years ago I developed a hearing loss. In addition to going to ENT doctor for tests, I also went to the library to read about the problem. I read all the books that they had available. I did note that many of the books were not written for the average person, they were more for the medical community. I soon realized that the library needed a simple book written for the average person that would help to solve some basic questions and give solutions to the problems that people experience with hearing loss. READ MORE